20 June 2007

Panasonic showed off its new range of DECT landline phones today and two of them include voice over IP technology (VoIP), allowing you to make free phone calls to anywhere in the world via the Internet.

The BB-GT1520 and BB-GT1540 phones work with the joip VoIP network, so in order to take advantage of the cost-free calling youll have to dial up another joip user. Skype, sadly, isnt supported.

Both base stations feature both phone line and Ethernet connections, so you can hook them straight up to your broadband router and not have to worry about whether or not your PC is switched on. The BB-GT1520 (priced at around 100) comes with a built-in answerphone, while the BB-GT1540 (120) has a dual keypad, making it possible to dial calls from both the base station and the handset.

Both models are due to arrive in August.